Refreshing self-published Dystopian

Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about self-publishing and how authors are going the “Indie” route and having a much greater shot at achieving their dream and becoming published by doing it themselves. Companies such as Lulu and Createspace are making it easier than ever to become a real published author. The days of desperately seeking an agent (and if you really hit it big) the interest from one of the Big Six in publishing might be over. Authors no longer have to wait around for their manuscript to be picked from a slush pile or wait eagerly by the phone, hoping to get picked up. Aspiring writers are living in a very interesting time in that if they want to make their dream happen…they can.

The drawback to this is that a lot of books out there are becoming junk and not worth the read. You could consider yourself lucky if you found yourself a rare gem in the world of the self-published books. There is a reason that the percentage of making it with a major publisher is so low. Writing is hard. For some authors, it can take months if not years to create one novel and just like every other artistic industry, some writers just don’t know that they don’t have what it takes or just can’t accept it and they plunge forward anyway. Creating a truly magical novel takes hard work and talent, which let’s face it, not everyone has.

I’ve been sleuthing around the self-published world for a while and at best, I find something that is worth reading and maybe even good, but not the kind of book that stays with you long after the last page. Well, I’ve found the book. I’m kind of surprised the author is an Indie author. It’s that good. It’s refreshing to see that Indie’s can have a book just as amazing as the traditional publishers.
This book is called Fire Country by David Estes. It is a dystopian novel that follows a group called “The Heaters” who live in desert like conditions and the life expectancy doesn’t reach past 30 due to toxic air environment. The main character is a 15-year-old girl by the name of Siena and it only took chapters to fall in love with her and her best friend Circ. The most amazing thing about this book is the world-building that Estes provides by creating almost everything.

The setting is very clearly dystopian. There are other groups besides The Heaters that all have names of their own such as the Glassies and The Wild Ones. There is new dialogue that the reader has to interpret at first, but comes naturally as time goes on, and an underlying mystery that keeps the pages turning. I fell in love with this book for so many reasons, but most of all the characters and the world they live in.
So self-publishing is crossing another milestone. In the beginning everyone was doing it and you had to fight through the sludge to find a gem. I believe now that the competition is even fiercer, someday there will be just as many jewels in the Indie world as there are in the traditionally published world.